At their core, Intelligent Tutoring Systems consist of a student model and a policy. The student model captures the state of the student and the policy uses the student model to individualize instruction. Policies require different properties from the student model. For example, a mastery threshold policy requires the student model to have a way…

The acquisition of early literacy skills prior to school can positively influence later educational outcomes. However, children from culturally and economically disadvantaged backgrounds often lack stimulating educational activities at home. This analysis provides empirical evidence for 31 education systems on the association between parental…

Several developments in the use of the new method of meta-analysis give cause for optimism. First, different meta-analysts are doing work in the same areas, leading to increased confidence in meta-analytic results. Second, meta-analysts are beginning to include raw data in their reports, which helps readers pinpoint the exact studies that lead to…

Documents produced by international organizations attached to the United Nations sometimes create problems in their great variety of publication practices, but most have the objectives of producing information for use internationally, of improving standards and methods, and of making statistics more comparable. Generally, information is obtained…

This paper discusses a Standard & Poor's analysis of state performance on the 2005 and 2003 NAEP reading and mathematics tests that took account of the demographic differences among the states. The study was presented at the NAEP State Service Center Winter Workshop in January, 2006. Standard & Poor's is commended for recognizing that NAEP…

Scores on standardized tests may be expressed in a variety of different modes. Raw scores, grade equivalents, percentile ranks, stanines, and standard scores are the major types in use today. The study investigated whether the mode or scale used to express scores affected the magnitude of group statistics, specifically, t and r (the t-test of the…

Under No Child Left Behind legislation, schools are held accountable for making "adequate yearly progress." Presumably, a school progresses when its impact on students improves. Yet questions about impact are causal questions that are rarely framed explicitly in discussions of accountability. One causal question about school impact is of…

Information on the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) data survey is presented, along with a quantitative index for the university libraries of the Association of American Universities (AAU). Ten quantitative measures of holdings, expenditures, and staff size for the AAU libraries from the 1981-1982 annual ARL survey are converted to an index…

The development and use of library statistics in the Soviet Union and systems of reporting are discussed in this speech by E.A. Fenelonov, Ministry of Culture of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic, and are compared with statistical development in the United States by Vernon E. Palmour of King Research, Inc. Fenelonov emphasizes the use…

The benefits and problems of comparing faculty salaries are evaluated. The primary source of information for this evaluation is the American Association of University Professors' (AAUP's) summer Bulletin. The problems listed include: (1) institutional variations in the methodology of data collection; (2) the conversion of 12-month salaries to a…

The State University of New York's (SUNY) Budget System and the Course and Section Analysis (CASA) System, which were developed to ensure accountability at the campus level, are described. Problem areas and resulting inaccurate and potentially misleading information are examined for the 12 state university colleges. The Budget System and CASA…

A preliminary report on the economic standing of American academics, based primarily on a national survey of faculty conducted in the spring of 1977, is presented. The economic position of professors is compared to other segments of the population, and income differences within the faculty are also examined. It is shown that since 1970-71, faculty…

The principal uses of statistics in library planning may be illustrated by examples from the state of Illinois. State law specifies that the Illinois State Library compile and publish statistics on libraries. State agencies also play an important and expanding role in this effort. The state library now compiles statistics on all types of…

To ascertain possible differences and similarities in learning styles of Cree, Dene (Chipewyan), and Metis students and the instructional styles of Native and non-Native teachers in northern Saskatchewan, Canfield's Instructional Styles Inventory was administered to 280 grade 7-9 students (81 Cree, 65 Dene, and 134 Metis) and 79 teachers (15…

A research project underway at the University of Arizona is described, and the usefulness of the national data system of the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) to institutional researchers, as well as some drawbacks of the system, are considered. The need for institutions to have data on enrollment, budgets, and faculty/students…